Hand truck



April 9,1935; J. LAME!AYS-URE HAND TRUCK Filed July 29, 12331 INVENTOR @5635 Z .L a Meqs ure BY v ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 9, 1935 UnitedStates Hoffman Machinery Corporation, New 'York, N. Y., a corporation of Dela- V ware Application July 29, ,1931, Serial- No. 553.70.?

12 Claims.

This inventionrelat'es to hand trucks,;and' has. a special utility in laundries anddry cleaning establishments. a I I An object of the invention is to .provide a hand 'truck" comprising a boxi'surmounting a wheeled frame 'to receive laundry or other'articles requiring transferfrom one machine to, another,

said frame being vertically adjustable to accommodate said box to machines of different heights;

-Another object is 'to' pivot said box on the 1.

truck frame for adjustment between relatively angular loading and unloading positions.

A further object is to'locate the pivotal axis ofsaid box forwardly of its center of gravity,-

and to provide a pivotal-member-adapted in one position tohold the rear end of. said box uptilted, and to adapt said member to. automatically swing touits eifective position responsive to suchup-tiltin'g of the box. i

'A further object'isto curve theforward edge of said box'for convenient registration with the mouth of a laundry extractor- These and various other objects'the invention attains by the constructionhereinafterdescribed, and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing,

wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan vow of the'improved truck, 5

indicating in dash lines a laundry extractor posi- 303 tionedto receive a load fromsaid truck.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view'of the truck,

showing a fragmentary portion of alaundry washing machine in load-transferringrelationto the truck. l V

. Fig. 3 is a front-end view of the truck."

Fig. 4 is a rear View of the same. In these views, the referencechar'acter ldesignates a rectangular open frame formed preferably of angle bars and equipped with front and rear pairs of wheelsZ'and '3, the latter preferably of 'a caster type. j'The uprights of said'frame preferably eachcomprise two' members bolted together asfindicated a't4, the upper thereof .be-

ing eachformed with "a-pluralityof bolt holes 5,

'- to' selectively receive said bolts whereby the frame is adjustable inheight.

Surmounting the frame l at its front-end is a standard 6, approximately U-shaped and extending transverselybf the frame, preferably projeot-- ing at eachend' beyond the latter. Piv'oted on said standard, between the uprights thereof, by

bolts 7 orfthe like, is an open-topped sheet metal box8, elongated lengthwiseof the frame I and projecting "forwardly and rearwardly'beyond the latter. Said box comprises side walls}! and a rear wall In and has itsffront endopen. The forward edge 11 of said box is arcuately curved, adapting'it for approximate registration with the mouth II of :an ordinary laundry extractor [3, partially shown in'Fig; 1. The side walls 9 pref-' erably are curved downwardly in an are, approximating' ninety degrees at their forward ends; T

as best appearsv in Fig; 2;; 'Attached to the; rear 'portion'ofsaid boxtherebeneath,.is across bar [4, adapted to .seat on theframe I in the loading Ipositiom of Pivoted 1 upon :and between the. vertically'adjustable upper members of the 'rear uprights of the frame lis a'..U.-.shaped .metallic member I5,

the box, as shown in full lines in 7 comprising: parallel side arms and a crossbar [5a,v

connecting corresponding ends of said arms, the, other lends of; said arms being weighted as indicated at 16,- whereby said member is urged to theu'pright position shown in'dash lines in Fig: 2. .In'such position" the crossbar [50. seats the rear portion of the;box '8; maintaining said portion uptilted as shown in dash lines inzFig. 2, the cross bar l4 forming an abutment engageable .by the cross bar 15a, thus determining the position of engagement of themember l5 and box. Thus,

' whenan operator manually. elevates the. rear end ofsaid-box, themember l5,-.I5a;, "5 automatically maintainsthe box so elevated. When the box is in lowered or loading position, its rear end engages themember l5,. maintaining the latter substantially horizontal. It is evident that the portion :of the member l5 extending from the pivots thereof to the cross bar 15a and including said cross bar forms a. strut. serving. to hold the box 8 inunloading position, the remaining pore tion of said member forming counter balance.

arms.

unimportant utility or the described truckv consists in the'transfer of the wash from a'wash-' ing machine cylinder to an extractor. To load the truck, the same'is'advanced, with its box 8 in lowered position, toinsert the open forward end of said box in themouth I 1 of a washing machine fcylinder I8. The operator may then readily transfer the contents'of such cylinder to'the boxwithout drippagetolthe floor or exterior of the machine. box 8 in loading position permits any liquid ex-' uding from the-wash to accumulate in'the rear. portion of the boxythus insuring against over-' flow'atthe open front end. r

The truck, when loaded, is wheeled to an extract0r, the open-front end of thelbox being esitablished in: approximate vertical registration The rearward declination of the with the extractor mouth, as best shown in Fig. l. The operator now raises the rear end of the box to establishthe unloading position shown in dash lines in Fig. 2, and theweights I6 auto matically tilt the member IE to maintain such position. The unloading inclination of the box reduces the effort requisite .to, slide the washed garments forwardly and over the arcuate edge I I into the extractor. V

It will be noted that the cross bar la serves as a handle member for pushing the truck, when the box is loaded, the side arms being then maintained in a rearwardly projecting position such as to expose said cross bar rearwardly of the box.

'Ihedescribed truck maintains the articles removed from the washing machine at an elevation permitting their introduction into an extractor with a minimum of effort. Furthermore, it adapts the transfer receptacle for the washed articles to so overlap the .washingmachine and extractor during loading and unloading of 'said. receptacle as to practically eliminate drippage to the floor orexterior of the washing machine or extractor, and avoids appreciable transfer of moisture from the .washed articles to the clothing or'person of employees. These conditions are particularly important in dry cleaning establishments where articles are washed in a combustible u liquid, drippage of which to a floor or the ex- 7 primarily stated, it is to be understood that the invention is susceptible to variation; modification and. change withinrthe' spirit and scopeof the terior of machinery would. add to the fire risk, and the presence of which on'the clothing or" person of workmen would be both unhealthy and dangerous.

It is, however, to .be..understood thatthe de-- scribed truck is .by no means limited to laundry use. w a

While it is apparent that the illustrated embodirnent of my invention is well calculated'to adequately fulfill the objects and advantages subjoined claims. 7

.What I claim is: v i

"1. A truck-comprising a wheeled frame; an

open-topped box. surmounting said frame and projectingforwardly beyond said frame, said box being open at its front end, means pivoting said box upon said frame forwardly of the center 'of gravity of the box, an elongated memberpivoted upon the rear portion of said frame andcounter weighted adjacent to oneof its ends to elevate its other end into supporting engagement with the rear portion of thebox, when said portionis raised. F '2'. A truck comprising a wheeled frame, an

open-topped elongated box surmounting said frame andprojectingbeyond its front end, said box being open 'at-its front end, meansengaging thebox forwardly of its center-10f gravityand pivoting the box to turn about an axis transverse to its length, a U-shaped memberxpivoted on the' forwardly ofthe center of. gravity of the box, a 75 member carried by the rear portion of said frame pivotally movable to a substantially upright po sition and providing in such position a support for the rear portion of the box when such portion is raised, means urging the last named member to said supporting position, and an element secured to the bottom of the box having positioning engagement with said pivoted supporting member in the supporting position of the latter, and engageable' with the frame to seat the rear portion of the box when the front portion of the latter is raised.

,4.'A' truck comprising a wheeled frame, an

open-topped box surmounting said frame and 'of said box, to turn about an axis substantially parallel to 'pivot axis of. said 'b'ox; said strut. being engageablelby the rear end of .lthe boxxin a lowered position of the box to maintain the strut rearward of itspivotalxaxis, and means yieldably imposing a rotativeeffort'on" saidstrut to establish it and in a supporting'relation to said box. upon elevating saidbox to a predetermined dec-- lination fromrearto front. 1

- 5." In a truck as set forth by claim 4, an abut ment carried by said box, therebeneath, engageable by the strut to limit angular forwardtravel of said strut. w r

6. A truck comprising a wheeled frame, a boxv surmounting said frame and projecting forwardly beyond. the frame, said box being open-topped and also open at its front end, means pivoting the box upon the frame to swing about an axis substantially parallel to its ends and between its front end: and its center-of gravity, the box normally seating on the frame, rearwardly of said pivotal axis, and being upwardly inclined toward its frontxend', and a supporting member'carried by the rear portion of the frame, freely engageable with the box and normally maintained by the box in a: nonasupportingiposition, and up wardly actuable upon the'frame to rigidly sup-- port the box at a downward inclination toward its front end,:.upon actuation of the boxto a position establishing such downward inclination;

'7. In atruckflas, set forth by claim 6, means yieldably. urging the last. mentioned member upwardly. l

18. A. truck comprising a wheeled frame, a box surmounting said frame and projecting forwardly beyond'the frame, said box being open at its front end, meanspivoting the box on the frame, forwardly .of the center of gravity of the box, thebox normally resting onv the frame; rearwardly of said pivot means, a supporting mem-- ber pivoted upon the rear portion of the frame,-

occupying a non-supporting position in the normal position of the box, and upwardly angularly movable on the frame to a substantially upright position of supporting engagement with the rear portion of the box, when said portion is elevated, and means yieldably urging the last mentioned member upwardly. r

9. A truck comprising awheeled frame, an open-topped box surmounting and forwardly;pro-- jecting beyond the frame, said box being open at its front end, means pivoting'said box upon the frame forwardly of the center of gravity of the box, the rear portion of the box normally resting upon the rear portion of the frame, a member; pivoted upon one of said rear portions,

upon the rear portion of said frame having a cross bar exposed rearwardly 'of the box in the normal position of thebox to form a handle for pushing the truck, and engageable beneath said box in its tilted position to maintain such position.

11. A vehicle comprising a frame, acontainer having an outlet at one end, and pivoted on said frame to permit elevation of its other end to facilitate the discharge of its contents, and a member associated with said frame and container, having alternative positions, in one of which said mem ber holds the last-mentioned end, of said container in its elevated, discharge position and in the other of which it forms a handle for propelling the vehicle.

12. A vehicle comprising a frame, a container having an outlet at one end and pivoted on said frame to permit elevating its other end to facilitate the discharge of its contents, and a member pivoted on saidframe'beneath the other end of said container, and projecting upwardly in one position to form a brace between the a .l

frame and container to hold the latterin its elevated discharge position, and projecting beyond the closed end of the container in another position to form a handle for propelling the vehicle.

JOSES 'r. LAMEASURE. 20 

